The Twilight Zone #1
The Twilight Zone #1 from NOW Comics launched what the publisher promoted as its fourth comics adaptation of Rod Serling's franchise, and it did so with an unusually high-profile creative pairing: Harlan Ellison adapting his own television teleplay 'Crazy as a Soup Sandwich' with art by Neal Adams, whom Ellison personally requested. The issue demonstrated that NOW Comics—best known for pop-culture licensed fare—could attract major literary and artistic talent to the anthology format. Its release in multiple editions (newsstand, direct, collector's polybagged, and a prestige squarebound) was itself a sign of how seriously the early-1990s direct market took a prestige launch. The second story, 'Wishing Book' by Don Glut, rounded out the issue as a more straightforward supernatural fable, showing the anthology range the series intended to sustain.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
NOW Comics, founded in 1985 and already holding licenses for The Real Ghostbusters, Speed Racer, and The Green Hornet, secured the Twilight Zone license and launched this inaugural issue in late 1990 (cover-dated, with reprints appearing in October 1991). Harlan Ellison adapted his own script from the 1988–89 television season of The Twilight Zone revival, and he personally requested Neal Adams as the illustrator; Ellison later recounted in interviews that the collaboration was contentious, with the two frequently clashing over specific storytelling details. The prestige-format premiere edition reprinted the Ellison/Adams story alongside an additional new 18-page Ellison piece, 'Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep,' and included an introduction and an interview with Ellison by Susan Ellison—bonus material that gave the reprint a distinct identity of its own.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The issue's lead story, 'Crazy as a Soup Sandwich,' was written by Harlan Ellison, adapting his own teleplay from the 1988–89 season of the CBS Twilight Zone revival series, with interior art by Neal Adams.
- The cover of the direct-edition printing was painted by Bill Sienkiewicz; the Neal Adams cover appeared on the newsstand and collector's editions.
- A second story, 'Wishing Book,' was written by Don Glut with pencils by John Stangeland and inks by Eddy Newell.
- The issue was released in at least four distinct editions: a standard newsstand version, a direct-sale version, a polybagged collector's edition, and a squarebound prestige-format premiere edition.
- The prestige edition (52 pages) added an exclusive second Ellison story ('Darkness Upon the Face of the Deep'), an Ellison introduction ('Riding the Daymare'), and an interview with Ellison; these features did not appear in the standard editions.
- A further gold edition, polybagged and sealed, was also published, autographed by Ellison on a printed label on the polybag.
- Ellison stated in interviews that he personally requested Neal Adams as artist and that the two argued frequently over which details to include in the comic adaptation.
- The series continued under NOW's banner through three volumes and numerous specials before concluding in 1993, making this issue the starting point of that entire run.